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Bill Clinton: Hillary, Chelsea Should Run; Navy Yard Shooting Video Released; Kenya Terrorists May Have Stored Weapons in Mall Storage Area; Procedural Vote Passes in Senate.

Aired September 25, 2013 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get some more now on what Bill Clinton, the former president, told Piers Morgan just a little while ago about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" Who do you think might make the better president, your wife or your daughter?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Day after tomorrow, my wife, because she's had more experience. Over the long run, Chelsea. She knows more than we do about everything.

(LAUGHTER)

And it's --

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: There was -- there was a time in her childhood when I thought maybe she thought she did when she didn't. Now, it's highly embarrassing because she, in fact, does.

(LAUGHTER)

So, I feel like I'm going to school every day when we have conversations.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN LIVE: I met your wife for the first time and your daughter and she looks fantastic. She looks reinvigorated. She seemed on fire with ideas and dynamism and so on, and it just screamed to me one thing -- I'm running. Can you put us all out of our misery?

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: No.

(LAUGHTER)

But it should have screamed to you something else: Real life is a healthier existence than politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: All right. Remember, the full interview, you're going to want to see it later tonight, "Piers Morgan Live," 9:00 p.m. eastern. The full hour with the former president of the United States. Always, always fascinating.

The numbers are out on how much you will have to shell out of your wallet under Obamacare. The news, though, better than expected. Christine Romans standing by to break down the latest numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's a news conference underway now. This is the FBI agent in charge of the investigation into the Washington Navy Yard massacre a week ago. 12 people were killed. There's new information they're releasing right now. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE NEWS CONFERENCE COVERAGE)

VALERIE PARLAVE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI D.C. FIELD OFFICE: -- and entered a parking garage at 7:53 a.m. in his rental car. As we advised last week, he had legitimate access to the Navy Yard as a result of his work as a contractor and he utilized a valid pass to gain entry to building 197 at 8:08 a.m. Shortly after his arrival in the building and over the course of approximately one hour, Alexis shot and killed 12 victims and wounded four surviving victims before he was shot and killed by law enforcement officers. Investigation today has determined that Alexis acted alone.

Today, we will be releasing excerpts from surveillance video and still images that depict Alexis entering the Navy Yard and building 197 and also show him walking in the hallway and in a stairwell while carrying a shotgun he used to commit the shootings. We will also release photographs of certain pieces of evidence, specifically his car that was located in the parking garage at the Navy Yard, his backpack that was left in the bathroom in room 197 and the shotgun. During the course of the shootings, Alexis gained access to a pistol that he also then utilized. Both weapons were recovered at the scene and have been submitted to the FBI laboratory for forensic analysis.

We will not be releasing any further information on the sequence of the shootings or his movements around the building at this time. As our evidence response teams remain at the scene as they complete their forensic work and efforts continue on ballistic and video analysis.

We can say that the Remington 870 shotgun had been altered with a sawed off barrel and stock. Purple duct tape covered the end of the stock and handwritten etchings were present on various parts of the shotgun. Etched into the barrel of the shotgun were the words, quote, "End to the torment," closed quote. Etched into the right side of the shotgun receiver were the word, quote, "Not what y'all say," closed quote. And on the left side were the phrases, quote, "Better off this way," closed quote, and, quote, "My ELF weapon," closed quote.

Analysis of the electronic media recovered from Alexis' belongings revealed several relevant communications. While analysis of these communications is ongoing, preliminary analysis has yielded clues to Alexis' intentions and issues of importance to him. There are indicators that Alexis was prepared to die during the attack and that he accepted death as the inevitable consequence of his actions. There is no indication today that Alexis was targeting specific individuals.

There have been widespread reports and speculation surrounding Alexis' mental health history and reported behaviors indicative of severe mental illness. As we seek to better understand his pathway to violence, we will continue to explore his background and motivations, including his clinical history. At this point, I can confirm that there are multiple indicators that Alexis held a delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency or ELF electro magnetic waves. The etching of, quote, "My ELF weapon," close quote, on the left side of the shotgun is believed to reference these electro magnetic waves.

(END LIVE NEWS CONFERENCE COVERAGE)

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to monitor this news conference. Valerie Parlave, of the FBI, telling us they are about to release video tape of what happened that Monday at the Washington Navy Yard. Also, still photographs for the first time. We'll show them to you, we'll bring you the video as soon as they make that available. We expect that to happen within minutes.

We'll take a quick break. Resume our coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're continuing to monitor the news conference here in Washington on that massacre at the Washington Navy Yard. They're also releasing, for the first time, closed-circuit video of what happened inside when the gunman went in and started randomly killing people. The FBI now saying they have concluded he did in fact act alone. They're also releasing still photos. As soon as we get all of that, review it, we're going to show it to you. We expect that to be soon, so stay with us for that. Dramatic video for the first time being released of what happened inside the Washington Navy Yard.

Let's move on to some other news in the meantime.

Kenyan officials don't expect to find any more victims in the rubble of the Westgate Mall, which is partially collapsed. They believe they'll only find the bodies of terrorists. New amateur video shows a remarkable scene from inside the mall -- a police officer in civilian clothes crawling on the floor to rescue a woman and her two small children. But they're too terrified to move. Eventually, the officer gets them to go with him to safety.

Our own Zain Verjee, by the way, had family inside the mall as well, an aunt, and she spoke to us earlier. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED AUNT OF ZAIN VERJEE: I grew up here and it has been a petrifying experience for me. The first time I've ever encountered something like this in a very safe country, at my home. I was at -- in the supermarket, cowering at the back of the shelves. And these guys just passing near us, almost coming towards us and that was very sad that I won't see my family again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Nima Elbagir is joining us now from Nairobi.

Nima, there are a lot of questions about how the terrorists planned this attack. And now, there's a report that they may have used a storage area actually inside the mall to store their weapons in advance.

What do we know about this?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we're hearing from eyewitness would tally with that. Some are reporting seeing attackers with belt-fed heavy machine guns, not the kind of weaponry that you can be driving around with in the back of the car. And everything we're hearing about this attack indicates such an extraordinary level of planning. They were very familiar with the layout of the shopping mall. They knew the back stairs, where to come in from to cause maximum terror and confusion. Even just the way they staggered the attack, Wolf. As we understand it, some of the gunmen initially came through the front door shooting. So than when people ran in, terrified, another wave of them that had come in through the car park at the top level coming down through those levels. So it was almost like they were funneling people towards their death, where they'd be met with that second wave. It sounds like it was so extraordinarily planned out.

We've been hearing from sources that they are looking into the possibility that a woman allied with the attackers, working with the attacker, might have come in and rented a store quite a few months in advance, became familiar with the people in the mall, and that it would have given her access to the emergency exits and fire escape. And that would explain how they knew it so well -- Wolf?

BLITZER: What a story and it's still continuing, the questions.

Nima Elbagir, reporting live from Nairobi.

Thank you, Nima, very much.

We'll take a quick break. Much more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've just received the video. The FBI has just released the first video from what happened inside the Washington Navy Yard on that Monday when this gunman, Aaron Alexis, walked in. There you see him right there with a sawed off shotgun and they just released this video.

Let's watch it and get a better sense. You see him walking through the corridors there. Going in the door and you see he's got the shotgun right there. This is pretty chilling as we watch what's going on.

There you see his car driving in to the Washington Navy Yard. He had security clearances. He had a pass. He went in there legally. He's obviously carrying a bag as he's going in there.

Our own justice reporter, Evan Perez, is watching this, together with all of us for the first time.

Evan, they decided to release this video now because they concluded at least that there's no evidence he acted other than by himself, right?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The FBI has been looking at this and looking just to double check everything they can see and have decided that there was nobody else involved.

It's pretty chilling video. It's incredible to see the way he comes out of the bathroom where it's believed he left the bag and pulled out the sawed-off shotgun and comes out. He's almost -- appears to be like a SWAT-team member as he goes out to the third floor and then to the first floor. Obviously, the FBI is not releasing any video of any of the actual shootings but you can get a sense of what the scene was like on that Monday morning at the Navy Yard building 197.

A couple of interesting things that the FBI said at that press conference a few minutes ago was that, based on their electronic communications, his e-mails, his computer, they get a sense that he believed that he was being controlled by ELF, which is extra-low frequencies, a Navy term that's used for communications with submarines. But he believed that he was being controlled by that. And apparently, he was prepared to die that day when he went in and shot these 12 people and injured four more.

A couple of other things. It looks like, from what the FBI knows now, the -- he etched a bunch of things on the side of the shotgun, including one that says, "Better off this way," "Not what ya'll say," and "My ELF weapon," again, another reference to extra-low frequency. So a lot new that we're learning today as the FBI is releasing more details -- Wolf?

BLITZER: They're releasing some still photos, including these that we're showing our viewers right now, the vehicle, his vehicle driving in through the Navy Yard. Once again, he had full clearance to go in there legally. He has a pass, a security clearance.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So he didn't try to enter illegally. But you see his blue care there --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREZ: Right. He didn't have to shoot his way in. He had complete access to this building. And just methodically goes about what he was planning to do.

Now that Prius is one of the things that confused things that day. If you remember, they were looking for additional shooters. One of the things they were trying to figure out was whether or not he had entered and then perhaps a get-away car had taken someone else. And it turns out it was because of this Prius, which wasn't registered in his name. And this blue Prius, it took them hour to figure out, to find what vehicle he had entered with that day -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It's interesting. He also seemed to have some sort of badge around his neck. You can see -- there it is right there.

PEREZ: That's right.

BLITZER: Some sort of pass. I assume that's his legal security clearance pass that allowed him to walk around the Navy Yard without any problem.

PEREZ: Yeah, that's exactly -- that is exactly what most people who work in that facility probably look like. They're always wearing their badges around their necks. And as you can see, he's popping his head into offices.

What's interesting is the FBI still doesn't believe he was looking for anyone in particular. He was shooting randomly. You know, he's popping his head in and out of rooms but it looks like he's doing that, perhaps playing a video game almost, is what he seems to be doing. He's not necessarily looking to shoot anybody in particular.

There was some question as to whether or not something happened there to trigger him. His mental health is really the focus of the investigation. I think one of the things the FBI is doing, they have behavioral experts in Quantico who study shootings like this to try to determine whether there's something they can learn for future events like this.

BLITZER: And the etchings -- we're showing this to the viewers, some of the still photos of that sawed-off shotgun. There you see -- I don't know if you can make out what some of the words were. But I can't read it from where I am right now. But the FBI agent in charge, Valerie Parlave, she did read what those etchings were. You wrote them down, right?

PEREZ: Right, right. That's right. That's right. He -- one of them, he had some purple tape, apparently, wrapped around part of the shotgun. One of them said, "Not what y'all say." Another said, "Better off this way." And the other said, "My ELF weapon." They were etched into the tape and into the sides of the shotgun, which was sawed off before he got there.

BLITZER: "Not what y'all say" -- so who knows what that meant? But you can clearly see it on the still photo of the shotgun that the FBI has now released.

But it's very chilling to think about what was going on in this guy's mind. Obviously, there were major, major issues there that clearly weren't detected by the security personnel who gave him the clearances and allowed him to, as you can see, drive into this Navy Yard in that car and walk around, go into a men's room with that bag, take out the shotgun, and kill 12 people and wound many, many others.

We're going to continue to watch this, get more information.

Thanks very much.

Evan Perez is our justice reporter.

And what can I say? It's very, very scary stuff, especially all of us who lived through that -- those brief hours in Washington when that situation was so unclear.

Thanks very much, Evan, for that report.

We'll take another quick break. More news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're going to continue to monitor all of the breaking news.

What's happening in the U.S. Senate right now, a procedural vote, surprisingly passes, 100-0, unanimously passing, despite the efforts of Ted Cruz to try to delay what's going on. He clearly did not succeed. He even voted together with all the other Republicans and Democrats to get this process, this debate going in the U.S. Senate. It will continue over the next few days. Remember, the deadline, next Monday at midnight, the government runs out of money -- at least huge chunks of the federal government, runs out of money on Monday, Monday at midnight, unless legislation passes the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The president has made it clear if any of the legislation includes any defunding of Obamacare, he will veto it. And the Senate has now made clear, is about to make clear, that if it includes any defunding of Obamacare, it's not going to pass the Senate, either. But Ted Cruz and a few of his fellow Republicans, they tried to delay all of this. He spoke for more than 20 hours on the Senate floor. Didn't necessarily succeed, but he did make his point to his supporters out there.

We'll have much more coverage on this throughout the day, later in the day, back in "The Situation Room." I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting today from New York.

NEWSROOM right now continues with Brooke Baldwin.